Electroplating is the process of depositing metals on conductive surfaces using electricity. Conventional electroplating processes involve cleaning, etching, plating, and post-plating treatment, including drying, of objects to be plated. The steps are generally accomplished in containers or tanks of varying sizes which contain various solutions including acids, bases, and electrolytes.
One form of electroplating is the reel-to-reel or continuous strip plating method. In reel-to-reel plating, frequently used in plating electronic components, the material to be plated is ordinarily provided on a feed coil. The feed coil is unreeled and processed through the conventional stages including cleaning, etching, plating, and post-plating treatment. The plated material is then rewound on a reel and is ready for further processing. An advantage of reel-to-reel plating is that the plated material is passed through the process in a continuous strip or feed, and labor-intensive handling of the material is minimized.
The reel-to-reel method is generally practiced with the material to be plated passing through a series of containers or tanks containing various solutions to accomplish the stages in the plating process. As the material passes from one tank into another, it is necessary to remove as much of the solution as possible from the material to be plated to preserve expensive solutions and avoid contamination of the solutions used in subsequent stages.
Current methods vary widely in their development and may include technology as basic as wedging paper towels or absorbent paper materials against the moving strip of material, or wedging strips of expanded polypropylene against the moving material. These methods also fail to maintain the stability of the absorbent or other material placed in contact with the moving material to be plated. The rapidly moving material causes similar rapid movements of the absorbent or other material, resulting in inefficient operations since the material must be adjusted or replaced frequently. The lack of stability also can result in irregular and inconsistent removal of solution from the moving material to be plated.
No currently marketed device is known to this applicant that maintains the stability of the solution barrier and that provides efficient removal of excess solution from the rapidly moving material to be plated, while providing a barrier to reduce solution leakage, that does not damage excessively the material to be plated, and that has a reasonably long life to reduce expense and inefficiencies in frequent replacement of the materials.